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Loris Karius
Loris Karius (born 22 June 1993) is a German footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Besiktas, on loan from Liverpool. Liverpool career Despite Simon Mignolet signing a new long term contract, his inconsistent performances continued speculation that Jurgen Klopp- known to be ruthless with transfers- would sign a new goalkeeper in the summer of 2016, to compete with or even replace Mignolet. Many names were linked, Bernd Leno, Timo Horn, even Barcelona's young keeper Marc Andre Ter-Stegen was linked with a move, but on 23 May 2016, it was reported that Karius was in Liverpool to undergo a medical. A day later, it was officially confirmed that Liverpool had agreed a deal of a reported £4,700,000 to sign Karius. It was also confirmed that the German would take the number one shirt, last worn by Brad Jones. Karius started pre-season well, but broke his hand in a training session, ruling him out for six weeks. On 20 September 2016, Karius finally made his competitive debut, keeping a clean sheet in a 3-0 win at Derby. Karius kept his place for the next game, a 5-1 thrashing of Hull City, which seemed to solidify his place in the starting eleven. After a shaky start at the club, Karius came under a lot of criticism after spilling a shot in the last minute, allowing Nathan Ake to score a late winner in a 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth, with some fans calling for Simon Mignolet to return to the starting lineup. He kept his place however for the next game, but was again seen to be somewhat at fault for both goals in a 2-2 draw with West Ham. This led to him being replaced by Mignolet for the next game. The draw against West Ham was the German's last league appearance of the season, with Karius only again featuring in the five domestic cup matches in January. Karius started the 2017-18 season as second choice goalkeeper behind Mignolet, but found himself in the starting lineup against Arsenal on 27 August. Karius fortunately didn't have to make a save as the Reds crushed Arsenal 4-0 at Anfield. The German was later named the club's Champions League goalkeeper, and started as first choice in all six group stage games, keeping three clean sheets. After a run of games including wins over Everton and Man City, Klopp confirmed that Karius was now the first choice goalkeeper at the club. On 4 February 2018, Karius had one of his best games in a Liverpool shirt, making some good saves, including a penalty from Harry Kane in a 2-2 draw with Tottenham. He continued this in his next game, making some big saves in a 2-0 victory away to Southampton. Karius started in the Champions League final, after a very successful second half of the season, solidifying himself as the first-choice goalkeeper. In the final, Karius had the performance of his nightmares, making two embarrassing errors that gifted Real Madrid two goals in a 3-1 defeat. The German apologised to the fans while in tears after the game. A medical report stated that Karius had suffered a concussion during the final, due to a collision with Sergio Ramos, and that this may have affected his performance. Manager, Jurgen Klopp stated that Karius was “100% influenced by the concussion”. On 10 July 2018, Karius fumbled a catch and allowed Tranmere to score in an eventual 3-2 pre-season victory. This caused much more criticism to be lobbied at him, and question marks were raised over the German’s state of mind. Nine days later, Liverpool completed the signing of Alisson for a world-record fee of £66,800,000, leading to speculation over Karius’ future at the club. On 25 August 2018, it was confirmed that Karius was to join Besiktas on a two-year loan spell, with the Turkish side having the option to sign him for around £9,500,000. Stats External links * Category:Current Players Category:Goalkeepers